A New Naruto
by Nashijun
Summary: After the Oni attack, Naruto begins to change. MXM, Yaoi, Gay. Time Travel. AN- This is just the first chapter. The story is completed and posted on nashijun. livejournal. com.


*Author's Note- Please be aware that this was supposed to show subtle changes, meaning that some scenes are directly from the show itself. If you do not like this, please do not read or comment.

The rest of this story will be posted on nashijun. livejournal. com.

* * *

Naruto walked along the road with Team 7 and Tazuna, heading for the Nami no Kuni. He ran his thumb over the bandage on his hand. He knew it was healing already, Kakashi didn't have to tell him that. Kyuubi was healing him, as he always did. The twelve year old knew he needed to act more mature this mission. If he didn't, he could get killed, or worse; one of his teammates could be. He didn't think the villagers would be very happy with him if Sasuke or Kakashi was killed. Especially not Sasuke. Naruto would think before he acted from now on. He couldn't let his jealousy or pride get in the way.

A noise caught his attention and instinctively, he sent out a kunai. Instantly, everyone was on guard. Kakashi went over and pulled the shrubbery away to show a white rabbit.

"Naruto! Look what you did!" Sakura snapped, pointing to the terrified animal.

Before he could same anything, Kakashi yelled.

"Get down!"

The four fell to the ground. A large sword sliced through the trees, sticking into a tree in front of them. Naruto looked up to see a man without a shirt on standing on the hilt. Slowly, they all stood. Naruto watched the man, wary of him.

"My, my, you are Momochi Zabuza, the Nukenin of Kirigakure no Sato." Kakashi said, his hands in his pockets as he took a few steps forward, "If he's our enemy, then I'm going to need this..." he reached up for his headband.

"I'm guessing you are Sharingan no Sharingan." Zabuza said, "I'm sorry, but I'll need you to hand over the geezer."

Naruto saw Sasuke start and look at Kakashi. Sharingan... If he remembered correctly, that was a Doujutsu, one from the Uchiha clan unless he was wrong.

"Everyone, get into formation. Protect Tazuna and stay out of this fight." Kakashi told them.

He pulled up his headband, showing that his eye was red with three black tomoe surrounding the pupil. A scar went down the centre of it.

"The Sharingan so soon? You honour me." Zabuza said, "When I was a member of the Kirigakure Assassination Squad, your information was listed in the bingo book I carried asking for your capture. It also noted this... The man who copied more than 1000 jutsu, Kakashi the Copy Ninja." the man knelt on his sword, "Enough chit-chat. Time to kill the old man."

The Genin finally got into formation around their client.

"But, I guess that I have to go through you first, eh, Kakashi?" Zabuza said.

He jumped off his sword, taking it with him as he landed on the water. One of his hands were in the air and with the other one in front of him. He was moulding a great deal of chakura. The water swirled around him. Then, the mist grew too heavy for them to see through. Kakashi took a better position in front of them.

"He'll try to eliminate me first, but..." Kakashi started.

"What is he?" Sakura asked.

"Momochi Zabuza. He was in the Kirigakure's ANBU, and was known for his 'silent killing' techniques." the sensei said.

"Silent..." Sakura muttered.

"Just as the name implies, it's a killing technique that's executed in a flash and carried out in absolute silence. It's possible that you'll be dead before you realise it. And I cannot use my Sharingan to it's fullest potential. So don't let your guard down." Kakashi told them, "But if you fail, you'll only die."

"You're so carefree..." Sakura said.

Soon, they lost sight of their teacher.

"The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney, and heart..." the disembodied voice of Zabuza spoke, "Now, which vital organ do you want to get struck at?"

The killing intent between the two ninjas was almost suffocating. He could see Sasuke out of the corner of his eye. The Uchiha was shaking. He went to point his kunai at himself.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi stopped him without turning around, "Don't worry. I'll protect the three of you with my life. I won't let anyone on my team die." he turned, smiling at them.

"I don't know about that..." Zabuza's voice said.

The Nukenin appeared between Sakura and Sasuke and their client. Naruto knocked Tazuna to the ground before Zabuza had a chance to remove his massive sword from his back. Kakashi was on them in an instant. While Sakura and Sasuke jumped out of the way, their teacher stabbed their enemy in the gut with a kunai. Only, instead of blood, water came out. A Bunshin... Naruto held his kunai in front of him and Tazuna, eyes darting about. Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi.

"Sensei! Behind you!" Sakura yelled.

"Die!" Zabuza sliced Kakashi in half.

Kakashi turned into water as well. The sensei appeared behind him with a kunai at his neck.

"This is the end." the Jounin told him.

"You don't understand. You can't defeat me with just your indiscriminate imitations. I can assure you of that." Zabuza said, seeming not to care for the blade, "But you're pretty good. I see that you've copied my Mizu Bunshin when you said, 'I won't let anyone on my team die'. By making your Bunshin speak as if it was the real one, you diverted my attention to the clone... while the real one used the Kirigakure no Jutsu to hide and observe my movements. However, I'm not that easy to defeat."

Yet another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi. The one in front of him fell into water. Naruto silently cursed when he realised that Kakashi underestimated this man. Zabuza tried to take a slice out of the grey haired man but Kakashi ducked. The blade stuck into the ground. Zabuza readjusted his grip and kicked out, knocking Kakashi into the water. He went to go after but stopped when he noticed Makibishi on the ground. He just jumped over them, landing on the water. For some reason, Kakashi was still in the water. Going through Naruto's mind was 'this is a Mizu Shinobi, he's an expert in water techniques... Get out of the water'. Zabuza made several hand signs.

"Suirou no Jutsu."

Kakashi was captured in an orb of water with Zabuza's hand sticking out of it.

"You fell for it. This is a special prison you can't escape from." Zabuza told him, "You give me a hard time when you're moving. No then, Kakashi... I'm going to finish you off later. First, I'm going to get rid of them." he made another hand sign with his free hand, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu."

Another water clone materialised from the water

"You three wear headbands like you're real ninja, but ninja refers to someone who has gone through numerous life and death situations. In other words, you can call yourself a ninja when you appear in my bingo book. You three aren't ninja." the clone made a hand sign and disappeared into the fog. The clone appeared in front of Naruto and kicked him away, "You're brats."

Naruto watched in anger as the man stepped on his headband.

"Everyone, get Tazuna and run. You can't beat him. He can't move as long as he has me trapped in this prison." Kakashi said, "He also won't be able to use his water clone once you get away from him!"

Naruto felt a hint of fear but more, he felt anger. They couldn't run. Once they did, Kakashi would be killed and then he would come after them anyway. And without Kakashi, there was no hope of defeating this man.

"We have to do it." Sasuke said, before charging at the Jounin, throwing shuriken at him.

The man easily knocked them away with his sword. Sasuke jumped and tried to stab the man, only to be grabbed by the neck and thrown away. Steeling his nerves and taking a deep breath, Naruto charged at the man himself. He was kicked back like he was nothing, but he got what he wanted; his hitai-ate.

"Naruto, what are you doing? Charging in like that? Even Sasuke-kun is no match against him. Genin like ourselves have no way of defeating him. No matter what we try!" Sakura yelled at him.

He tied his hitai-ate back on his head, standing.

"Sasuke, listen up, I have a plan..." Naruto told him.

"I can't believe you want to work as a team." Sasuke replied.

Naruto smirked before summoning his Kage Bunshin and swarming the clone. When he was thrown away, he tossed Sasuke a large, folded shuriken. Sasuke knew what it was immediately and throw it at the real body. He caught it, but a second on hidden in the shadow was still heading for him. Zabuza just jumped over it. Sasuke smirked. The second shuriken transformed back into Naruto and he threw a kunai at the arm of the Nukenin, forcing him to release Kakashi. In anger, Zabuza went to strike Naruto with the stolen shuriken but Kakashi was able to stop him with his metal plated gloves. Naruto fell into the water. After a short struggle, the two Jounin separated and began doing a large string of hand signs. They finished at the exact same time, causing two water dragons to appear and begin to battle. It caused a great deal of disturbance in the water, knocking Naruto around as Kakashi and Zabuza entered hand to hand combat again. As they separated again, Zabuza made another hand sign, but Kakashi mimicked him again. Naruto could tell it was messing with the Mizu ninja's mind. They began to make more signs, only this time, Zabuza didn't finish while Kakashi did. A spiralling whirl of water shot at Zabuza, forcing him on to the land. Naruto was also thrown about. He was able to grab a tree branch but Zabuza was slammed into a trunk. Kakashi threw several kunai into the man's limbs as he landed on a branch about him.

"It's over." Kakashi said.

"Can you... see the future?" Zabuza asked.

"Yes..." Kakashi raised another kunai, "You're going to die."

Just as he was about to throw the blade, two Senbon flew from the trees and hit the Nukenin in the next, killing him.

"You're right, he did die." a feminine voice spoke.

It was a masked shinobi from Kirigakure. Kakashi jumped down and checked for a pulse.

"He's dead." Kakashi said.

"Thank you very much. I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza." the Oinin said.

"That mask... If I remember correctly, you must be an Oinin from Kirigakure." Kakashi said.

"You are very well informed." the kid said.

The Oinin disappeared only to reappear next to Zabuza and hoist the body on to his back and disappear again.

"Let's get going. We still need to get Tazuna back to his home." Kakashi said.

They turned to go back but Kakashi froze and collapsed.

The moment they made it to Tazuna's house, Kakashi was put in a room to rest. Naruto didn't stick around though. He had been feeling weird ever since their first fight with the Oni Brothers. Ever since he made that vow. No, if he were honest with himself, it was ever since he found out about Kyuubi. He tried to still act like his old self, but now? There didn't seem like a point. It's not like anyone would even notice anyway. He would just go from being the centre of hated attention to being ignored altogether.

Sighing, he looked at the sky. His azure eyes fell close and he took a deep breath. He tried to clear his mind and mediate. His Jiji always told him it would benefit him to mediate but he never tried before. Taking deep, steady breaths, his mind cleared. He thought of nothing, but suddenly he was standing in a room with water on the ground and a large cage in front of him. Two red eyes and a sinister smile stood on the other side of the cage. It took him a minute to realise that this was the Kyuubi. Slowly, he was able to make out the fox's large body.

"Finally came to see me, you damn brat?" the thing hissed.

"I didn't intend to." Naruto muttered, feeling a hint of fear in his heart as he look at the beast.

However, another feeling forced it's way to the forefront of his mind; anger. Anger at the thing for attacking the village. Anger that it was sealed in him.

"Mad at me? Go ahead." it laughed evilly, "That paper there is the only thing between us. Get rid of it and you can attack me all you want. Go ahead, brat."

Naruto looked at the paper; it was the seal.

"I'm not stupid, no matter how much I act it." Naruto told him simply, "That's the seal holding you inside me. I remove it and you escape to kill more people."

The fox growled.

Naruto plopped down on to the floor, not caring about the water, "Because of you, I've been hated my whole life. Because of you, thousands of people died."

Kyuubi snapped at him, "I've been locked in a cage for the last twelve years! I don't need to hear your complaining!"

"You killed thousands of people and made my whole life hell!" Naruto yelled, "You can sit back and listen to my complaining, you damn fox!"

It actually stopped and looked at him in surprise.

"My entire village despises me because of you! I didn't ask for you to be put in my belly! I don't want anything to do with you! But everyone hates me! Everyone except my Jiji and Iruka-sensei, anyway." Naruto looked down with sad eyes as he gripped his ankles.

His body language spoke only of protecting himself.

"Even Kakashi-sensei... I'm sure he hates me too. I already know Sasuke and Sakura-chan do." he whispered.

"Then, why bother with them?" the fox said, "Why try and make them like you?"

The blonde looked up at Kyuubi. He didn't actually look so scary any more.

"I've been alone my whole life. Jiji tried to help me, but he couldn't show too much favouritism. I know that. I just want to be loved... Is that too much to ask?" he said to it.

"Probably." Kyuubi told him bluntly.

Naruto laughed weakly, "Yeah, you're probably right on that one."

There was silence for a moment.

"Forget them, brat. Grow strong to protect yourself. From everyone..." Kyuubi finally said.

"That's not how it works for humans. We have to live with each other. No one is strong enough to live completely alone." Naruto muttered. He looked at the beast, "Do you think that you could have been imprisoned if the Yondaime was by himself?"

It growled but didn't answer.

"Maybe if I was in a different unit, things would be different. Sakura's parents were always pretty vocal about hating me. Sasuke's too damn arrogant to look past his own damn nose. And Kakashi... I think they only put him on our team because Sasuke's an Uchiha and Kakashi has the Sharingan. He's the only one who can teach Sasuke how to use it if and when he awakens it." Naruto said.

Kyuubi growled, "I dislike Uchihas..."

Naruto just laughed, "Me too."

"What unit would you rather than, human?" Kyuubi asked.

Naruto looked up at him in surprise before thinking about it.

"Hinata, Hyuuga Hinata... She's always been pretty nice, if a little weird. Her father doesn't like me too much, but I think that's more to do with the pranking than you. Shino or Shikamaru would be good too. Probably Shikamaru." he sighed, leaning back on his hands, "There's no changing units though. At least, not until I'm a Chuunin."

"And how do you become this 'Chuunin'?" the fox asked.

It sat and laid down, crossing it's paws in front of it before lying his head on them.

"There's exams, every six months, I think. But with you in my stomach, there's no way the council will let me leave the village for them. I'll have to wait until the exams are in Konoha." Naruto said.

Kyuubi hummed in acknowledgement.

"Six months? How long is this?" it asked.

Naruto blinked, looking into it's red eyes, "You don't know?"

"I don't pay attention to you humans that much." it sneered.

"Oh... You know what a day is, right?" Naruto asked.

"One revolution of the sun and moon, correct?"

Naruto nodded, "Each month is thirty days, give or take. So, six months is..." he thought about it.

"One hundred and eighty days, brat." it replied.

Naruto nodded quickly, "I don't know when the last one was though."

"Someone's coming, brat." the fox said, lifting it's giant head.

Naruto blinked, seeing the sunlight.

"Naruto! Why did you take off?" Sakura snapped.

He looked over and saw Kakashi on crutches with Sasuke and Sakura at his side.

"We're training, Naruto." Kakashi told him, "Zabuza is still alive."

Naruto was surprised but he didn't say anything. Standing, he tied his jacket around his waist and followed them.

As they were tasked with climbing the trees without their hands, Naruto barely made it two steps without falling. Sasuke made it a decent ways up the tree, but Sakura made it all the way to the first branch with ease. Naruto was annoyed that he couldn't make up very far. Sasuke made it farther than him... He shook his head. He couldn't let his jealousy get away from him. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated sending chakura to his feet before charging at the tree once more. He blocked out the sounds of Sasuke and Sakura. Two steps; good, he beat his first attempt. Three, five, nine... He felt himself lose control of his chakura and his foot popped off the tree. Striking out with a kunai, he marked the tree before flipping back to the ground. His eyes peered back up, he'd made it about half of Sasuke's starting run. Better than nothing.

Naruto heard Sasuke growl. The dark haired boy was looking between his tree and Naruto's in anger. Taking a deep breath again, Naruto worked to clear his mind before trying once more. The moment his foot hit the tree, he knew it was wrong and just let it fall back down. He turned and walked back to his start point, taking deep breaths and shaking his shoulders. Clear mind, clear mind...

They were out there for hours. Neither he nor Sasuke made much progress. Naruto knew why he wasn't though. Whenever he felt his chakura was off, he'd just stop and go back to the ground to start again. Sasuke had made it another few feet up the tree but the littered scratches on tree showed that while it was a steady increase, it was slow. Sakura made it up and down easily, but her chakura was waning. Kakashi had her continuing to do the exercise do to her low chakura levels, in hopes of building them up.

The story about Inari's father struck a chord with Naruto, sending him back out training after they ate. That wasn't all that he did though. Sitting at the base of his tree, he began to mediate again, retreating into his mind and to the cage of the Kyuubi.

"Back again, brat?" it greeted him.

"Yeah." he sat down by the cage, "Kakashi's training us to walk up trees using our chakura. I'm having problems. I can't seem to control it very well."

"I'm not surprised." it said, "My chakura has been feeding into you since you were a babe. You have much more chakura that anyone your age should."

Naruto blinked, "I guess that makes sense. Got any advice?"

It grinned, "Concentrate harder."

The blonde shot him an annoyed glare, "Very helpful..." he said sarcastically.

"There's no short cuts, brat. You just got to do it." it told him, "Now, get lost."

Blinking, Naruto looked up at his tree. Time to train then.

He ended up training until he collapsed. The next morning, he awoke to a very pretty guy, who looked way too much like a girl. Meeting back up with Sasuke, the two began to train together. By the time Sakura and Kakashi got there, they had all but got it down, though they still hadn't made it to the top. The two would train all the way to supper time before they finally made it.

Naruto cursed sharply as he raced to the bridge. Why did Kakashi think that he'd used too much chakura? And to top it off, those too samurai wannabes attacked Inari and his mother. He was way behind his team.

When he finally made it to the bridge, the battle had already started. Kakashi was in a standoff with Zabuza, though neither of them were moving. Sasuke, however, was trapped in a dome of what appeared to be ice sheets. He was screaming. Naruto could just barely see glimpses of something moving very fast between the sheets of ice. Sasuke stopped screaming as whoever it was stopped to catch a kunai thrown in from the outside. Naruto took that opportunity to throw a shuriken at the Oinin. It struck his mask, knocking him from the ice mirror. Naruto quickly raced to the other side of the mirrors to prevent himself from being tracked. There was no way to get Sasuke out, he didn't think. He doubted he'd be of much help inside or out. Might as well enter.

As he crept inside and revealed himself to Sasuke, the other boy was horrified.

"Are you okay, Sasuke?" he asked.

Sasuke twitched, "You idiot! If you're a ninja, be more careful! If you come into the mirror as well... Damn it! Forget it, idiot." he looked away.

Naruto glared at him. Sasuke stood.

"I'll just have to destroy the mirror, then!" Sasuke said. He made several signs, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

A large fireball slammed into the mirror with no effect.

"Well, lot of good that did..." Naruto said.

"It won't melt with that kind of firepower." the Oinin said.

He raised his hand with his senbon and attacked again. They were knocked to the ground.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto said, spreading the clones out to each of the mirror.

He attacked again, destroying all of the clones and sending Naruto back to the ground.

"This is a travelling technique that utilises mirror reflections that only reflect me. From my speed, you two look like you're standing still." the Oinin said.

"Damn it..." Naruto muttered, "So what...? I can't die here. I still have a dream I need to achieve... The dream to make the villagers recognise me and become the Hokage!"

Naruto stopped though, looking back down. He would never be Hokage.

"Dream..." the man said, "It is difficult for me to become a pure ninja. If it's possible, I do not want to kill you and I do not want to make you kill me. However, if you are going to fight me, I will kill my compassion with a blade and become a ninja. This bridge is a battleground that leads to the dreams of many people. I will fight for my dream. And you will fight for your dream. Please do not hold any grudges. I want to protect an important person... I want to work for him, fight for him, and make his dreams come true. That is my dream. In order to make it come true, I will become a ninja. I will kill you!"

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto sent out another wave of clones.

"Stop it!" Sasuke said but it was too late.

Once more, it did nothing and Naruto was thrown to the ground with more scratches.

"What the hell?" he muttered, "One more time... Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Sasuke kicked up some water.

"You still don't understand it's futile?" the Oinin asked.

Again, they were knocked to the ground. Naruto sent out more clones but this time, Sasuke sent out another fireball that the ninja dodged. Before the last clone was destroyed, Sasuke shot out more fire that hit the shinobi's left pant leg. Naruto fell to the ground again. Sasuke made several hand signs.

"Naruto, run!" Sasuke said, "Get out of here and attack from the outside!"

"Okay!" Naruto agreed before racing off.

He was knocked back but he just got back up and tried again.

"I'm not going to lose!" Naruto yelled.

The masked man attacked again, but Sasuke shot another fireball out at him. He dodged and threw a senbon at Sasuke, striking him in the shoulder before landing in front of Naruto. He kicked him back.

"Damn it." Naruto muttered.

"That was good." Sasuke said, making the blonde look at him, "Let's do it again."

"Okay." Naruto agreed.

He raced to the gaps again.

"First, I'll stop you." The Oinin sank senbon into Sasuke, actually piercing him instead of merely cutting him.

Naruto hesitated and as a result, several senbon entered his back. They heard a scream.

"Let's go..." Naruto said, standing.

He pumped out more chakura and began running. When the shinobi blocked him, he flipped backwards and headed in the other direction.

"Naruto, behind you!" Sasuke yelled.

Naruto turned, just in time for four senbon to enter his chest.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called. He raced to Naruto's side, "Can you stand up, Naruto?.

He weakly tried to stand without success.

"Don't waste your chakura like that any more. That's what he wants us to do." he told the blonde.

Naruto managed to push himself up.

"I know..." Naruto said weakly.

"Stand up, idiot!" Sasuke ordered.

He struggled, sat up, "I know... Stop being so annoying!"

The Oinin attacked them again.

"He disappeared? Where? Where did he go?" Sasuke looked around frantically, "Naruto, you better not faint! I can't cover for you any longer!"

"I don't need your help..." Naruto muttered weakly, just before he fainted.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that the Oinin was on the ground and Sasuke was standing over him.

"Really... You're a burden... all the time." Sasuke said weakly.

"You did it, Sasuke!" he said happily, trying not to feel disappointment for being so weak.

That was when he noticed that Sasuke wasn't looking very good. Sasuke looked back and his teammate noticed that a line of blood was leaving his mouth.

"Look at yourself..." the boy said, "You idiot..."

"Why?!" Naruto asked, "You protected me..."

"Who... knows..." Sasuke said, "I hated... you."

"Why?! Why?" Naruto said, standing, "Why did you protect me...?"

Naruto's fists clenched as he fought his tears. Why? This didn't make any sense. Sasuke hated him.

"I didn't ask you to!" he finally yelled.

"Who knows... My body moved on it's own, idiot..." the Uchiha collapsed.

Naruto raised forward and grabbed him.

"That man..." Sasuke muttered, "I didn't want to die until I killed my brother..." he reached up, "You... don't die."

His body went limp. Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes as anger filled him. Sasuke was dead, and it was his fault. He hugged the boy's body to him. If he wasn't already hated by everyone in the village, he would be now. And he even thought things were starting to improve between them.

"Is this the first time you've seen someone you care about die?" the Oinin asked, "That is the path of a ninja."

The masked man sank back into the mirrors.

"Shut up..." Naruto whispered angrily, laying Sasuke down, "I hated you, too..."

Naruto could feel his chakura swirling up around him. He could tell he was losing control but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"You will pay..." Naruto told the ninja.

He could feel Kyuubi's chakura leaving him. The red chakura whirled about.

"I'll kill you!" Naruto growled.

The senbon in his body shot from him and his wounds began to heal at an accelerated rate. His fingernails elongated into claws. Naruto could barely see. He felt animalistic. Charging at the mirrors, the Oinin tried to attack him but the senbon were deflected by his chakura alone. He tried again and this time the needles stuck but another blast of chakura removed them. He punched one of the mirrors, smashing it. The Oinin tried to attack but Naruto spun away. He tried to get back to one of the mirrors but Naruto grabbed his hand. With another wave of uncontrollable chakura, the blonde punched him in the face and through another mirror. He flew back, tumbling to the ground several feet away from the demon container. The ice mirrors collapsed as he slowly got to his feet. Naruto charged at him as the mask broke and began to fall from his face. Just as he reached him, the mask fell completely. His fist stopped inches from his face. It was the boy from the forest.

"You're the guy from before..." Naruto muttered.

"Why did you stop?" he asked, "I killed an important friend of yours, but you can't kill me?"

Naruto struggled before finally punching, "Damn it!"

The boy stumbled and fell to the ground. He pushed himself to his knees.

"Where did that energy of your go? You can't defeat me like that." he said, "He wasn't an important person to you? There are those who have the wrong idea. They fail to defeat an enemy that needs to be defeated, show them mercy instead, and decide not to take his life... If you ask me, doing something like that is not showing mercy. Do you know the pain of living without a dream? Knowing you're not need by anyone?"

"What are you trying to say?" Naruto asked.

"Zabuza-san does not need a weak ninja. You stole my reason to exist." he said.

"Why...? Why do you fight for that guy? He gets money from bad guys and does evil things! Is that no-brow the only important person you have?!" Naruto snapped.

"I have people that were important to me a long time ago. My parents..." he said.

He explained about his parents death, about his Kekkei Genkai, about Zabuza finding him and giving his life meaning again. It reminded Naruto too much like his own life. Being hated for something he had no control over.

He walked up to the twelve year old, "Naruto-kun, please... kill me." he finally said.

Naruto looked at him in shock and horror, "No!"

"Zabuza-san had hopes for me. He needed me." the boy said sadly, "Zabuza-san will no longer need me. That's why I am asking you... Now, hurry..."

Bowing his head, the Genin pulled his kunai and charged. He didn't resisted as he approached. Naruto sliced the boy's jugular. He grabbed his body as he fell.

"If I met you somewhere else, we might have been friends." Naruto told him.

As his brown eyes closed, he smiled softly. He fell limp.

The mist began to clear. Naruto got to his feet and backed away. He looked around and saw Kakashi, his hand touching Zabuza's chest. The Nukenin was already dead.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, "Where's Sasuke?"

He bowed his head. Sakura and Tazuna ran passed him to where Sasuke. He could hear Sakura crying over his body.

"Some demon."

Naruto turned with a glare. Gatou was there with, with a large group of mercenaries. The blonde went to attack him but Kakashi stopped the boy.

"Don't be careless." he said.

Naruto growled in anger.

"Naruto!"

He looked back.

"Sasuke-kun is okay! He's alive!" Sakura said, waving.

He was happy that the boy was alive. Sasuke raise his hand, his face turned away in embarrassment. Naruto looked back at the dead Oinin. He'd been taking it easy on them. The sound of a cane hitting concrete made Naruto and Kakashi look back. Before they had to attack, though, an arrow landed on the ground in front of Gatou. It was Inari, with the entire town behind him.

Naruto smirked, crossing his fingers for the Kage Bunshin. Kakashi attacked them, killing Gatou with a quick slice. Once he was dead, the mercenaries got scared and took off.

After that, it was smooth sailing. No one stood against the building of the bridge, and the whole town rallied behind them, helping out in any way they could. It didn't take long for Team 7 to be walking across the bridge to go back to Konoha.

"Jiji?" Naruto stepped into the window of the missions office behind the Hokage.

"Please use the door, Naruto." the old man said without looking back.

"Oh, right," he grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, Jiji. Can we talk for a sec?"

Sarutobi chuckled lightly, drawing from his pipe, "What is it you needed to speak to me about?"

Naruto looked down, eyes serious and sad, "Is there any way I can transfer teams?"

"You don't like your team?" he asked.

Shrugging, the boy looked at him, "Sakura hates me, just like her parents. Sasuke... He doesn't much like me either, but he gets pissed every time I get better at something, even something small. Kakashi-sensei doesn't seem to care one way or the other, and he's not stopping Sasuke." He sighed, running a hand over his hair, "I think Kakashi-sensei's trying to make us rivals but... Sasuke's got too much hatred. I... If this goes on, I don't think that anything good will ever come from it."

The Hokage nodded slowly, "That is very mature of you, Naruto. How bad is Sasuke's hatred?"

Naruto stared at the ceiling, "It's bad. At times, things are all right, but it's like he realises that he's not angry and that makes him angry."

"Is there a way to help him?" the old man asked.

Suddenly, Naruto realised something, making him look to his Jiji, "You're afraid he's going to do something... Aren't you? Something bad because of the anger." he asked softly, mindful of the others in the room.

The man nodded gently. Naruto bit his lip as he thought about it.

"I think you should be worried..." Naruto didn't want to admit it, because, for some reason, he did think of Sasuke as a friend. "Anger is the only thing that drives him. He refuses to make any connections. All he cares about is power... If he could make a connection, he might be all right. But a rivalry is only going to make things worse."

"I do agree with that." Sarutobi said, "There aren't any units available for you to transfer to right now. However, I would like for you to try and make an impression on Sasuke. Try to befriend him. If anyone can bring him back from the dark side, it's you."

Though he wasn't happy about it, he took the order for what it was.

"Also, you should know that Kakashi... He's not trying to play favourites. You're unit is quite a bit like his was, when he was a Genin. He was a lot like Sasuke. He lost his father when he was young. He was angry, cold, uncaring... His sensei, the Yondaime, he took the time to get to know him, but it wasn't until one of his teammates died that he became what he is today. His teammate was an Uchiha, but he was a great deal like you. Hyper, arrogant..." the man chuckled as Naruto gave him a pout, "He was constantly late. And he view Kakashi as a rival. He died saving Kakashi's life."

Naruto nodded, "He's the one who gave Kakashi the Sharingan..."

"Yes." the Hokage gave a smile, "There was even a fangirl who had a crush the stoic one while the 'loser' had a crush on her."

Naruto chuckled, looking down, "Well, that ship has sailed, Jiji."

"I figured." he looked at Naruto, "You have your mission, Naruto. Best you get to it."

Nodding, he got to his feet and went to leave through the window, "Oh, and Jiji? If you give us that damn cat again, I'll make your life hell."

The old man laughed. Naruto caught the others in the office either laughing, or shivering at the mere mention of Tora.

Naruto had no idea how he was going to get close to Sasuke. The boy had a wall as tall as the Hokage Monument around him. He didn't want to let his Jiji down on his first solo mission... even if he didn't think he was going to get payed for it. But the truth was, he didn't want Sasuke to lose himself. He was the only one of the rookies that he had any chance of actually being friends with, the only one that would understand him. The problem was; Sasuke didn't want any friends.

Kakashi arrived at the meeting two hours late, as per usual.

"You're late!" Sakura yelled at him.

Another lame excuse and they were on their way to the missions office.

"Team 7, reporting in." Kakashi said as they entered.

"Kakashi, good, I need to speak to you about your report for Nami no Kuni mission." Sarutobi said, "There seems to be holes it in."

"Ah," Kakashi looked at Naruto and Sasuke, "I'm afraid I don't know everything that went on when Sasuke and Naruto were fighting the boy, Haku."

The Hokage looked to them, "Did either of you fall unconscious or black out during this time?"

"We both did, Jiji." Naruto said, "I'm not sure how long I was out, but Sasuke was out before Haku was defeat and didn't wake until Gatou arrived. Zabuza and Haku were already dead."

"Sasuke? How long was Naruto unconscious?" the old man asked when Sasuke didn't volunteer the information.

"Few minutes." he said simply, "Not long."

The Hokage nodded, "Naruto, please write a report about what happened with the boy. Sasuke, please fill in from before Naruto arrived and when he was out."

The two boys nodded.

"I would like to know now." Sandaime started, looking between them, "Who was it that killed the boy, Haku?"

Sakura looked at Kakashi, "I thought you did, Sensei."

Sasuke was also looking to their teacher. Kakashi was looking at Naruto though, a hint of worry in his eye.

"Haku asked me to, so I did." Naruto admitted, "He felt he no longer had a purpose in life when I beat him."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sasuke clenching his fists in anger. He also took note that the Hokage noticed this reaction as well.

"Are you all right, Naruto?" the old man asked.

Naruto nodded, looking down, "Yeah, I'm all right. I didn't think I would be but... He wasn't a bad person, he just felt he was now useless to the only person who showed him any love... I don't feel guilty for helping him."

Sarutobi took a draw from his pipe, "Speak to someone if you need to, Naruto. Show your enemy honour, and never forget him."

Nodding again, Naruto backed away, behind his team.

"If you are up for it, we are having problems with mercenaries giving the travelling merchants problems." Sarutobi tossed the scroll to Kakashi, "There haven't been any reports of ninja amongst them."

Team 7 walked from the gates, heading out to the location of the mercenaries. It was silent. Naruto kept to the back of the group, not talking. It only took them a few minutes to arrive at the camp. This was not due to be a very eventful mission. They surrounded the camp like they would to capture that damn Tora. There were twenty or so people.

"Go!" Kakashi said over the headset.

Immediately, they charged. They weren't very skilled. Even for the skills of rookie Genin, they were easily beat. Naruto moved to Sakura's side, though he didn't help her just yet. She was struggling, but she was smarter than their enemy. She was able to lure them into a trap. When he knew she was safe, he moved to Sasuke's side. Sakura slowly followed as well. They approached Sasuke, but what Naruto saw sent chills and anger down his spine. Sasuke's opponents were bound, and Sasuke was about to kill them. Naruto raced forward and punched Sasuke, knocking him away.

"Naruto, what are you doing?!" Sakura screamed at him.

He ignored it though, standing over his teammate.

"Why?" Sasuke asked, wiping the blood from his mouth.

"You were going to kill him." Naruto said.

Kakashi landed behind him, "Naruto, what are you going?"

"What does it matter?" Sasuke snarled at him, "You killed-"

"This isn't a contest! These are people's lives!" Naruto snapped, "You don't kill if you don't have to."

Sasuke stood, glaring at Naruto, "We're ninja, dobe! We kill!"

Naruto stepped up to him, "You just don't get it, do you? Ninja kill if they have no choice. Sometimes we kill for missions but if there is no need to kill, don't!"

Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, stepping in front of him.

"Sasuke, Naruto's right. Don't kill unless you have to. These mercenaries don't need to die."

Tension remained amongst the team as they headed back. Kakashi dismissed them when they got to the gates, heading in to report by himself. Naruto followed Sasuke from a ways behind. He ended up sitting on the roof of a building, watching Sasuke train. He may have counteracted his mission of befriending Sasuke with his lecture, but if Sasuke couldn't understand not to kill unnecessarily, then there was no hope either way.

He watched Sasuke training with his Sharingan. He hadn't even realised the boy had activated it. It wasn't until he got bored that he finally jumped down. He was instantly met with a kunai being thrown at him. When Sasuke realised what he had done, his eyes widened.

"Naruto! Get down!" he called.

The blonde knocked the blade down with his own kunai. He bent down and picked up it up, walking up to his teammate to hand it back.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke was not pleased to see him.

"Can we talk?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Sighing, Naruto walked over to one of the training stumps and sat on it. Slowly, the brunette moved closer, leaning against another. He looked expectantly at Naruto. The outcast didn't know exactly how to improve their relationship. The only thing he had was the truth.

"Sasuke, why do you hate me?" he asked slowly.

The boy just gave him a confused look.

"Do you hate me? Or is it just that I annoy you?" Naruto rephrased.

"... Annoyed." was the quiet response.

Naruto nodded, looking at the darkening sky.

"Why are you so angry?" he questioned.

Sasuke looked to the ground, "... My brother... He killed everyone, our whole clan... I was too weak..."

Naruto peered down at him, "Didn't that happen when we were eight? There's no way you would have been strong enough."

"Itachi was... when he was that age..." Sasuke continued, clenching his fists.

"You're not Itachi, though. You're Sasuke. I get wanting revenge, but why so angry? Why all the time?" Naruto asked again.

Blood dripped from Sasuke's clenched hands, "He played with me, told me that the reason I'm weak is because I don't hate enough."

"And you listened to him?!" Naruto asked in disbelief.

Sasuke's head snapped up sharply, his eyes wide.

"Itachi's evil! Of course he'd say something like that!" he said.

"Then what do you suggest?!" Sasuke snapped angrily.

Naruto shook his head, "I don't have any suggestions. At least none that you'll listen to." He jumped down next to Sasuke. "The only thing that I can tell you is this. The Hokage is worried about you. He thinks that your anger is dangerous."

Sasuke froze, "You're saying... The Hokage thinks that I'm going to turn into Itachi, doesn't he?"

"Can you blame him?" Naruto asked.

The pieces were fitting together even as they spoke. It did make sense, after hearing more about what happen to the Uchiha. He'd heard about it when it happened, but he had more important things to worry about at the time, like trying to survive without the orphanage.

Sasuke looked down, releasing his fists.

"Being strong is fine, Sasuke." the boy looked up once more, "Wanting revenge is fine, too. But you can't lose your humanity. And you have something that your brother never will."

"And what's that?" Sasuke muttered.

Naruto smiled, "Friends. Whether you want them or not." he patted the boy's shoulder before walking away.

"You wanted to see me, Jiji?" Naruto asked, entering the man's office.

The old man motioned for him to take a seat in front of his desk.

"Yes. Kakashi informed me of the incident with Sasuke and the mercenaries. As well as you lecturing him." the old man said.

Naruto nodded, "Yeah. I, uh, I'm sorry..." He didn't really know what to say.

Sarutobi shook his head, "No. From what I hear, you were in the right. Do you think that you have harmed your mission in befriending him?"

Naruto thought about it, "To be honest, no. He and I talked later that day. I told him flat out that you were worried because of his anger. It... surprised him. I think he's realised he's going down the same path as his brother."

The Hokage nodded, taking a drag of his pipe.

"Is that what you're afraid of?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," he replied.

Naruto nodded, "I'll do my best to stop it, Jiji."

Sasuke sat next to Naruto on the tree stomps in the training grounds. Kakashi was sparing individually with each of them, Sakura being the last. She was improving, though it was slow going. Hagane Kotetsu jumped down to the grounds in front of them just as Kakashi finished up with Sakura, knocking the poor girl to the ground.

"Kotetsu-kun..." Kakashi greeted the man with a cheerful smile.

The Chuunin looked down at Sakura before looking at Kakashi, "Hokage-sama has a mission for your team."

"Ah, good. Let's go, team!" Kakashi said.

Sakura pulled herself to her need, glaring at their teacher as she panted heavily. He gave her an energy bar and they slowly made their way to the missions office. Inside, they found the office in disarray. People were moving in and out quickly, the talking was loud. The moment they entered, the Hokage stood and went to their side.

"Quite frantic in here..." Kakashi commented.

The old man just sighed, "The Chuunin Exams are starting soon."

Naruto looked up excitedly.

"Already?" Kakashi said.

Sarutobi nodded, "We've been receiving a great deal of C and B ranked missions to clear out bandits. Almost everyone over the rank of Genin is busy."

"What do you need of us?" Kakashi asked.

The Sandaime pulled a scroll from his robes and handed it to their teacher.

"Since your team has already completed a high ranking mission, I believe they can help lighten the load on the Chuunins. This is a B rank." he told the one eyed man.

Naruto and Sasuke were both excited about it, though Sakura was visibly nervous.

"Hokage-sama, I'm sorry to interrupt, but..." the girl looked down, "I don't think I'm ready for this. Sasuke-kun and Naruto are, but I'm not strong enough."

He looked at her, making her duck her head even further.

"You are quite brave to admit something like that, Sakura-kun." he said, a gentle smile on his face.

She looked up shyly. He turned back to Kakashi.

"It's your decision, Kakashi." he then turned back to the girl, "Perhaps, if you feel you are too weak, Sakura-kun, you should ask your teammates to help train after your meetings around over? Just a suggestion..." and the man walked back to his desk.

Kakashi patted Sakura's head, "That is a good idea. Perhaps you two would like to help Sakura train?"

She looked hopefully at Sasuke. Naruto was snickering as the Uchiha's eye twitched. He then threw his arm around Sasuke's shoulders.

"I think that's a great idea. Huh, Sasuke?" he said.

Still twitching, the boy gave a single nod before shrugging Naruto's arm off him and walking from the room. Sakura smiled weakly, letting Kakashi lead her out as Naruto brought up the rear.

They headed out at a brisk, steady pace, going to a border town to the north. Arriving at the camp just before sundown, they watched and waited.

"We will see if any of them are in the Bingo Book." Kakashi said, handing one to each.

"And if they are?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi looked between them, "We deal with them."

Sakura paled drastically. Sasuke didn't look much better.

"You will likely make your first kills today." the Jounin told them, "Even you, Sakura."

Swallowing heavily, she nodded. Naruto flipped through the book, seeing Zabuza's face in it.

"Can we keep these?" he asked, looking up at the older man.

He thought about it before answering, "Don't let anyone know. You're not supposed to get them until you're Jounins."

They all nodded. Kakashi turned back to the camp.

"What do you see?" he asked them.

They looked.

"They seem to mostly be from Iwagakure." Sakura observed.

"There's some Kumo in there too." Naruto added, pointing to two lonesome nin on the edge of the clearing.

"Good. Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

"They don't appear to be more than Chuunin rank." he said slowly.

Kakashi nodded, "Good. The mission report stated that there shouldn't be any more than one or two that are Jounin level."

"What's the plan?" Naruto asked.

"You three stick together. Watch each other's backs. I'll hit the north side of the camp." he replied.

He nodded.

"I've found three Iwa nin in the book." Sakura stated, looking at the pages, "The two Kumo nin are also in here. That appears to be it. Why aren't the others in here? They're Nukenin too, right?"

"Their villages don't care about them." Sasuke said, "They're too weak and have no secrets of the village."

Kakashi nodded, "Exactly right, Sasuke."

As the sun disappeared behind the mountains, Kakashi moved to the northern side of the clearing, leaving the three Genin alone. Sakura was shaking, holding a kunai. Naruto could tell that Sasuke was also trying to settle his nerves.

"It's going to be all right." Naruto told them, "It's not that bad."

Kakashi jumped down from the other side, signalling them to follow. They entered the battle. Sasuke and Naruto had no problems, though they kept their eyes on Sakura. They didn't help her, however. They forced her to fight for herself. She kicked one of the nin whose picture was in the bingo book to Naruto. He slit the man's throat without hesitation. Sakura gasped, covering her mouth.

"Don't freeze." he snapped at her, "Behind you."

Instinctively, the girl spun, her kunai up. Her eyes were closed. She didn't even realise that her blade struck the nin's throat. Naruto shot to her side and pulled her away as the man made one last ditch effort to strike her down as he died.

"N-Naruto...?" she opened her eyes.

Turning back, her eyes widened at the body.

"D-Did I...?" she asked.

"Show him honour." Naruto said softly, "Learn his name and never forget it. But don't mourn him."

Slowly, she nodded. Naruto was forced to move from her side as they were attacked. He watched her more carefully, but she continued to fight, though she was far more shaky than she was before. One of the Kumo nin attacked Naruto. He didn't hesitate to strike him down. It was only as he caught his breath, staring at the dead that he realised the fight was over. All the ninja were unconscious or dead. All except one. Sasuke had him pinned to a tree with wire and was holding a blade to his throat, but he was shaking and unable to finish it.

"Are you all right, Sakura?" Naruto asked.

"Y-Yes." she said, "I'll... I'll go through their packs..."

Naruto quickly moved to Sasuke. He got there just as Kakashi went to go as well. He waved his sensei off, pointing back to Sakura. The grey haired man was worried but allowed Naruto to take care of Sasuke. Naruto put his hand on the Uchiha's shoulder, causing him to jump and look around wildly.

"It's me." Naruto said, "Do it, Sasuke."

"I... I don't want to become my brother..." the brunette said slowly, "I don't want to become him, Naruto. Don't let me..."

Naruto nodded, laying a hand on Sasuke's, "Then don't. Tell yourself that every time you take a life if you have to. But if you can't kill... Then you need to retire from the ninja corps."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he stared into nothingness.

"Kill him."

Clenching his eyes shut, Sasuke swiped the kunai across the nin's neck. The incredibly sharp blade slid through the flesh with no resistance.

Kakashi and Naruto decapitated the five ninja from the book, capturing their heads in a sealing scroll. Sasuke and Sakura removed the weapons from their unconscious enemies and secured them for transport to the town that requested the mission. The walk back to Konoha was silent. Sakura was doing her best not to cry, holding tightly on to Kakashi's arm and refusing to release him. Kakashi wasn't even reading his book. Sasuke didn't look like it was bothering him, but Naruto noticed that the boy was staying close to his side. The moment their entered the gates, Kakashi dismissed them and went to report to the Hokage. However, the three didn't separate. Instead, they made their way to Training Ground Three. The boys stopped at the stumps, but Sakura walked farther ahead of them. She turned to face the boys.

"Are you all right, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Will..." She rubbed her arm, "Will you help me... train?"

"Are you up to that right now?" he asked in worry.

She nodded, taking a deep breath and taking out a kunai. Slowly, he took out his own kunai.

"Don't leave, Sasuke." Naruto told the boy.

He didn't say anything but he sat on the ground against one of the stumps. Naruto made no attempt to attack Sakura. He just dodged as she attacked. She didn't stop until she was completely worn out. The girl collapsed against a trunk next to Sasuke. Naruto looked at her. He didn't understand why he wasn't as torn up about killing people as they were. Maybe it was because of the Kyuubi, or maybe because of his life growing up.

"Naruto?"

He blinked and looked at Sakura.

"Are you all right?" she asked in worry.

Sighing and running a hand through his hair, he walked over and sat between her and Sasuke.

"I... I don't feel guilty for killing them..." he looked down sadly, "Maybe I really am a monster..."

"Who called you that?" Sakura asked.

"You did." Sasuke said softly.

She froze, "I-I did?"

She looked at Naruto, trying to catch his eye but he wouldn't look at her.

"When did I say that?" she asked.

"The Academy. Repeatedly." Sasuke supplied when Naruto didn't respond.

"Oh," she looked down in shame. Then, her head snapped up, "Well, you're not a monster!"

"Then, why don't I feel guilty?" he muttered.

She bit her lip in thought.

"Because you've been through hell..." Sasuke whispered.

Naruto looked at him. The Uchiha's eyes were sad as he stared at the ground.

"Not as much as you." Naruto said.

Sasuke looked at him, "I don't feel guilty either. I just don't want to end up like... Itachi..."

Sakura looked at him in confused worry. Naruto leant back against the trunk behind Sasuke, his shoulder leaning against the other boy's.

"We're both pretty screwed up, huh?" Naruto muttered.

Sasuke remained silent.

"W-We'll be all right." Sakura said, "We've got each other, so we'll be all right. Right?" she looked in desperate hopefulness between the boys.

Naruto smiled widely and gave her a nod. They both then looked to Sasuke. He gave the barest hint of a nod. They smiled happily. Naruto pulled himself to his feet, dragging Sasuke with him.

"Come on, let's train."

Naruto sat on the roof of Sasuke's apartment building next to the boy. He was still nursing a few injuries from the brunette, who chose to work out his anger and worry on him. Not that Naruto really cared all that much. He'd gotten a few good licks in on the Uchiha himself.

"Naruto?" Sasuke said softly.

The boy looked over.

"Did the Hokage order you to befriend me?" he asked.

Naruto looked down before nodding. Sasuke's head ducked.

"I already considered you my friend, though." the boy looked over at Naruto, "You saved my life when we were fighting Haku. You almost died to protect me. That's real friendship. At least in my book."

Naruto leant back on his hand, staring up at the sky, "Jiji was just scared for you. Though, honestly, I don't think it was just you."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well," Naruto bit his lip, "I actually requested to transfer teams."

"What?" Sasuke asked sharply, "Why?"

"... Because I thought the rivalry between us would end up making you lose it. Kakashi-sensei was helping the rivalry to fester. Sakura-chan hated me, I thought you did too. I figured you and I both would be better off if I left." Naruto admitted, "I don't think Jiji wanted that. He just told me that he didn't have any teams available and gave me the mission to befriend you."

Sasuke nodded slowly, turning away.

"Why do you pull pranks? You know that it'd cause them to hate you, right?" he asked.

Naruto looked down.

"They already hated me, Sasuke." the blonde replied, "They've hated me since the day I was born. The pranks... It was so they would pay attention to me."

Sasuke looked at him in confusion.

"My entire life, people looked at me in hatred. I never understood why but they always glared and muttered angrily as I passed. But..." Naruto wrapped his arms around his knees, "When I was around five, they started to ignore me. That hurt worse than the glares. So, I started to pull pranks. It was better to be yelled at, than ignored."

"Why?" Sasuke whispered, "Why did they hate a kid?"

Naruto just shrugged, turning to the sky, "That's why I wanted to be Hokage too. Jiji has always been so respected... I wanted that. So, I decided that I wanted to be Hokage one day. It's not like it'll ever happen, though."

Sasuke turned to his teammate is surprise. Naruto looked completely depressed.

"To be honest, I don't know if I still want to be Hokage." he admitted.

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Because, no matter what, they'll always hate me." he looked at Sasuke, "I'm not like you. I'm not the pride of the village. If I died tomorrow... they'd have a parade. Now, if you said you wanted to be Hokage, you'd be trained up immediately."

Sasuke looked to the ground below them, "Why would I want to be?"

Naruto shrugged, "Because they're your family?"

"They're not my family." Sasuke said firmly. The blonde chuckled, making him look over in annoyance, "What?"

"They love you, Sasuke. You're the child of the village. Everyone here's your family. Me, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei, the other rookies, the whole town... They love you, they're your family." Naruto gave him a sad smile as he said this.

"They're yours too, then." he said.

Naruto shook his head, "Weren't you paying attention? They hate me. You, Jiji, Iruka-sensei..." he bit his lip, "I don't know if Sakura-chan hates me any more. Kakashi-sensei... I don't know if he hates me or not, but that's it. All the rookies hate me, the villagers... And I'm all right with that. Well, not all right, but I'm used to it. I've got our team, Jiji, and Iruka-sensei. That's all I need."

Sasuke watched him before looking down.


End file.
